Wednesday, January 23, 2008

In their current campaign to secure a third term in the White House, in violation of the spirit of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which limits U.S. Establishment politicians who become the U.S. president to two terms in office), the Clintons are claiming that a third Clinton Administration in Washington, D.C. will bring democratic political “change” to U.S. society. Yet as the following column historical item from Downtown indicates, when Bill Clinton was the U.S. President during the 1990s the Clintons failed to bring democratic political change to U.S. society:

539 Days After The Clintons’ Inauguration: Where’s The Change?

Despite their 1992 presidential platform, 539 days after the Clintons’ inauguration Bill “Oxford” Clinton has not shown much eagerness to deliver a nationwide television address in support of a federal gay rights bill—although, according to the 1993 book Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Law, “in 43 states [as of 1993] it remains perfectly legal for a private-sector employer to deny employment or refuse to serve or to rent to lesbians and gay men based solely on their sexual orientation—unless one happens to be in a municipality that has a gay rights ordinance.”

But Bill Clinton was very eager to dial into a radio call-in program from Air Force One on June 24, 1994 and mouth yet another 23 minutes of platitudes in which he asserted—despite what happened to JFK—that “I don’t suppose there’s any public figure that’s ever been subject to any more violent personal attacks than I have, at least in modern history, anybody who’s been president.”

Although Bill Clinton also complained about “how much of talk radio is just a constant, unremitting drumbeat of negativism and cynicism,” he apparently failed to mention that—despite the Clintons’ 1992 campaign pledge to prevent special corporate interests from using big money to control U.S. electoral politics—“since Mr. Clinton’s inauguration in January 1993, the Democratic Party has raised $20.5 million,” a healthy share of that money was personally raised by Mr. Clinton,” “the Democrats’ most generous donors include Time-Warner Inc. and its executives, who gave $508,333” and “some of Mr. Clinton’s big donors…are past supporters of President Bush and the Republicans.” (NY Times 6/22/94)

(Downtown 7/13/94)

Next: Where Was The “Change” During The Clintons’ First Two Terms?—Part 14